We have had Buttercup for a little over a month now, and she is such a spunky little Marginated gal!
I named her 'Buttercup' after my husband called her a 'margarine tortoise' - if she ever gets a boyfriend, we will call him Wesley
(I am fully aware that it is technically too early to tell whether she is female or male... she was temp sexed female, but we won't know for several years).
I got her from a private breeder here in our area, and he kept her for the first 9 months. He did a great job raising her - she is beautiful, healthy, and has only veeeeery minimal pyramiding.
She hatched on Thanksgiving day 2012, so she is almsot a year old. She weighs 68g, and is gaining steadily (she was 60g a month ago). She is such a good little eater.
I feed her the same home-grown mixture of dark leafy greens (both from my yard and my friend's yard) that my other tortoises do so well on. She is not picky at all, and I don't have to chop anything up.
Buttercup is my first 'non rescue' tortoise, and it's kind of fun to start out with a healthy tortoise. She self-soaks (although I still soak her daily for 20 mins, since she is still so small), and she even helps herself to her cuttlebone or her little milk-bottle-cap of calcium powder!
Here is a picture of her gorgeous Momma. The Mom was purchased as a captive bred hatchling 8 years ago. She is huge, and healthy. It was fun to get to meet her and see the set-up.
I will post pictures of the tortoise nursery in the next few days - I have 1 set up indoors, and 1 outdoors. She spends most days outside (with frequent mistings, and I move the enclosure around depending on where the sun is), and even some nights if it's warm. Her breeder did this, too, so she is accustomed to our climate.
I named her 'Buttercup' after my husband called her a 'margarine tortoise' - if she ever gets a boyfriend, we will call him Wesley
(I am fully aware that it is technically too early to tell whether she is female or male... she was temp sexed female, but we won't know for several years).
I got her from a private breeder here in our area, and he kept her for the first 9 months. He did a great job raising her - she is beautiful, healthy, and has only veeeeery minimal pyramiding.
She hatched on Thanksgiving day 2012, so she is almsot a year old. She weighs 68g, and is gaining steadily (she was 60g a month ago). She is such a good little eater.
I feed her the same home-grown mixture of dark leafy greens (both from my yard and my friend's yard) that my other tortoises do so well on. She is not picky at all, and I don't have to chop anything up.
Buttercup is my first 'non rescue' tortoise, and it's kind of fun to start out with a healthy tortoise. She self-soaks (although I still soak her daily for 20 mins, since she is still so small), and she even helps herself to her cuttlebone or her little milk-bottle-cap of calcium powder!
Here is a picture of her gorgeous Momma. The Mom was purchased as a captive bred hatchling 8 years ago. She is huge, and healthy. It was fun to get to meet her and see the set-up.
I will post pictures of the tortoise nursery in the next few days - I have 1 set up indoors, and 1 outdoors. She spends most days outside (with frequent mistings, and I move the enclosure around depending on where the sun is), and even some nights if it's warm. Her breeder did this, too, so she is accustomed to our climate.
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